A Family for Christmas
by XV-Dragon
Summary: AU one shot: A lonely orphan wanders the streets on Christmas Eve and suddenly gets caught up in a chain of events that may give the girl what she truly wants this Christmas.


Here is one of two xmas one-shots I have written. I'll hopefully will have the other out in time for the holidays but if not, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you all.

I would like to thank Wilhelmina Vandom for beating this fic and would also like ot say, I don't own W.I.T.C.H. if i did we would have season 3! (hoping we will get lucky and there will be one though)

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A Family for Christmas

It was a cold December evening, the snow coming down hard and everyone was rushing to finish gathering things for Christmas Eve dinner. Unnoticed by all was a young child standing in the shadows of a near by alley, wearing a worn gray winter coat with tattered gray pants, old black boots, red gloves with of her fingers poking through the ends and an old red scarf.

The hood of the winter coat was up, but you could still stands of red hair and the brown eyes the held a great deal of loneliness and longing within them. This young girl was Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom, a girl who ran away from home a few years after being abused by her father Tony Vandom after her mother Serena Vandom died.

Serena had been taking a six year old Will out for some ice cream when a car came speeding around the corner. Serena had pushed her daughter out of the way just in time, but did not have the time to saver herself though. The car hit Serena head on and she died on impact.

Tony was devastated and in anger blamed Will for his wife's death. He started beating his own daughter until she could take no more and ran away, hoping she could find a happier life elsewhere. But the ten year old had yet to succeed and now lived on the streets, forging through trash just to survive.

Will longed for a chance to have a real Christmas, with a loving family but knew she would never have one. No one wanted her so how could she ever have something wonderful like that?

Will quickly shook her head, trying to shake those desires out of her head. The last thing she needed was to think about things she could never have. Right now she needed to focus on coming up with a plan for how to get both dinner and burnable material for tonight.

Will lived in an abandoned apartment building so she needed to provide her own heat and thus needed to find lots of wood, paper and any other thing that could be burned safely or risk freezing to death in her sleep.

Dinner was the easiest thing of the two to get since it was Christmas Eve and people threw out a lot of scraps. All Will needed was to ignore her hunger until much later tonight and go through the trash to find it and hope there would also be lots of her other much needed items to be found at the same time.

Until then, Will was forced to hide in the shadows and try to scout good places to start searching later that night. It would save time if she had a rough idea of what places were throwing out what and how much of it. Plus it also killed time and kept her mind focused on something else besides her grumbling stomach.

---

It was midnight when Will could finally make her move and headed for a near by neighborhood. She usually had good luck in the area and was hoping tonight that luck would keep going. The sooner her stomach stopped bothering her, the better.

"Lets see what's in trash can number one." Will whispered as she looked over a few bushes to see two very full looking garbage cans. This made Will as happy as she could get and started to push her way through the bushes until she heard a strange noise

'What's that? It sounds like…Bells?' Will thought as she looked around trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, until she saw a shadow pass overhead. Will looked up to see a small red slay pulled by three reindeer.

Will rubbed her eyes thinking she was seeing things. But when she removed her hand away from her face she still saw the slay on top the of the near by roof. Will quickly ducked back behind the bushes and started telling herself, "It's okay Will, you're just have delusions because of hunger. Nothing to freak out about."

Just as Will told herself this though, a beautiful woman with long black hair, brown eyes and was dressed in a Santa suite magically appeared in front of her. Will stared in shock and fear at this and if not for the fact that she had lost her voice for the moment, would have been screaming so loud the people in China would have heard it.

"Now what do we have here? You look cold little one, why don't we go inside and get you warmed up and you can tell me why you're wandering around this late at night." The woman said before gently taping Will on the nose and they disappeared.

---

The next thing Will knew, she was inside the living room house they were just outside of and was sitting on the couch. The fireplace then suddenly burst to life with a roaring fire filling room with warmth and light. The woman from before was standing in front of the tree with a sack putting gifts under it while Will stared on in disbelief.

"If your hungry little one, you can have the cookies and milk on the coffee table. I lack dad's ability to eat tons of sweets all night long so you're more than welcome to have them." The dark haired woman said as she continued to go about her task.

Will looked across from her to see the cookies and milk the woman had mentioned, and after a few moments of hesitation, finally reached over and picked one up. Will took a bite and the taste of peanut butter and chocolate filled her mouth.

'If this is a dream, please don't let me wake up.' Will whispered in her mind as she savored the taste of her little treat. As Will finished the cookie the woman in the Santa suit sat down next to her and smiled. "Glad to see you're enjoying them. Feel free to take your time, there is no rush. That's what I love about Christmas Eve, time flows differently for my family tonight. It makes it easy to get every thing done in 'one night.'" The dark haired woman explained as she sat back on the couch and relaxed, taking the red hat off her head.

"Time…Flows differently? Then shouldn't I be moving slower or something then?" Will asked in a curious tone. She had not been much of a believer in Santa Clause before, but it was hard not to believe with a woman who was dressed like him, had flying reindeer and could do magic to make them appear in side a house in an instant.

"Normally you would be frozen in place and unaware of time stopping, but for what ever reason you exist within this time flow instead of the frozen one. Now…I have two choices, I can take you home and freeze you or you can come along and help with my rounds." The dark haired woman explained and waited for Will's response.

Will was stunned by the offer, why would this woman want her help? It was not like she needed help if time was frozen, so why? What did this woman have to gain from having her tag along? "I don't think that's such a good idea. I would only..." Will started to say, but a loud grumbling noise coming from her stomach interrupted her.

While Will blushed at this little event, the dark haired woman smiled and said, "You know…There are a lot more cookies and other treats being left for out in other houses. If you come along, they are all yours."

With those words, Will's reluctance weakened considerably. The idea of having food that had not seen the inside of a garbage bin and be in a nice warm house, for a few minutes anyway, was very tempting. Eventually Will gave in and said, "O-Okay, I'll come. Not sure how much help I'll be though."

The dark haired woman smiled at Will once again and scooped up a cookie from the plate and held it out to the redhead. "Then eat up little one, when you're done we can get started." This had Will shyly take the cookie and start to nibble at it, until she finally gave into her stomach's demands and devoured it and the others and guzzled the milk down in record time.

The dark haired woman laughed at this and shook her head with a huge grin on her face. "Dad would be impressed, I don't recall ever seeing him eat that fast in the two-hundred years I have known him." The woman joked, which led to Will blush yet again before they were magically teleported into the seat of the sleigh.

Will instantly noticed something different and looked down to see that instead of her old and badly worn clothes, she was now in a Santa suit as well and despite it being thinner than her other clothes, she had never felt warmer.

When Will looked over to the dark haired woman in confusion, she said, "If you're helping, then you get the uniform as well as a bit of the good old Clause magic. That's why you're feeling warmer despite being in a thinner feeling set of clothes. There are a few other benefits as well, but I'll explain them as we go along." With that, the woman gently snapped the rein and the slay took off into the air.

As they headed for the next house Will asked, "Um…Ms. Clause…How am I supposed to help exactly?" This got Will yet another smile from the woman who replied, "First of all you can call me Susan. As for how you can help, there are a lot of little things. The reindeer Rudolf, Angel and Snowflake up there need to be fed every so often for example. While you do that I can deliver the presents. Then there is the stockings of course, you fill them while I put the gifts under the tree."

Upon hearing the first name of the three reindeer that flew the sleigh, Will looked over and noticed the lead flyer had the famous glowing nose. "I thought he was supposed to be with your dad?" Will commented, as she looked back to Susan.

Susan laughed at this and replied, "In some cases that's true, but he likes to give me a veteran flyer to go along with the two and since me and Rudolf are good friends, Dad prefers to give me him when possible."

---

To say Will had an interesting night would be like saying the sun was just a little bright. When Will heard the reindeer talk for the first time, she almost fainted from the shock since they had been quite for the first couple of hours.

Then there was getting used to walking on the rooftops. Until Susan told Will that the magic she had been lent helped her stick to the roof, Will had hung onto anything she could get a hold of like her life depended on it.

Later during the deliveries, Susan showed Will how to actually slide down the chimneys instead of just appearing inside of the house. It felt like going down a real steep slide, which was real fun to do once you got used to it. Of course that was after Susan grabbed onto Will and jumped down the chimney so Will would actually give it a try. (It took an hour and many cookies later to get Will to talk to her again after that.)

By the time they were finally done, Will felt sad it was all over. This had been the best night of her whole life and had not been this happy since before her mom died. The way Susan talked to her sometimes and the gentleness the dark haired woman showed her reminded the redhead of her mother so much, it hurt to think the woman would be leaving soon.

'I wonder if she'll need help next year.' Will thought hopefully, wanting to see Susan again next year if she could.

As Will sat down in her seat again, she felt Susan gently pull her down until her head was resting on Susan's lap, then got covered in a blanket. "Take a nap little one. I'll wake you when we get there." Will heard Susan say, before having the sleigh take off, but at a slower and more steady pace than usual.

Will did as Susan asked and closed her eyes and fell in a deep sleep, not knowing that when she woke up, she was in for a big surprise.

---

Will was woken up by a gentle rocking motion and the words, "Wilhelmina, we're almost there." Will let a sleepy groan of protest before saying, "It's Will." slowly sat up and looked around expecting to see the rundown apartment building where she lived. Instead she saw a land of snow and ice with a bright light off in the distance.

"W-W-Where are we?" Will asked looking more then a little confused at what was going on. Susan just gave Will another kind smile as she replied, "The North Pole. You were a lot of help tonight, so I thought I would treat you to a real Christmas Eve Dinner."

Will stared at Susan in shock at finding out where they were. 'The North…Pole? As in where Santa lives!' Will screamed in her mind until she realized something important. "I never told you my name, so how did you know it?" Will asked, remembering she never had mentioned her name to the older woman and up until now, Susan had only called her little one.

"Oh don't be so surprised! It took me a while since I'm not as good at using the ability as Dad yet, but I can still tell what a child's name is when I look at them." Susan replied in a friendly tone, but added silently in her mind, 'Among other things. I'll have to ask mom and dad about how to deal with this, no child should suffer like she has. I have to help her some how.'

A few minutes later they flew over a small village with a large house in the middle of it. At the top of this house was white snowflake that was the source of the bright light that Will had seen in the distance a short while ago. Will assumed it was meant to provide light for those bellow and to act as a beckon of some kind for Santa and Susan when they made their way back home.

Attached to the large house was another building that Will thought must act as a garage/barn for the sleigh and reindeer. This was confirmed when Susan went in for a landing and flew through open doors that led into that part of the building.

In side were many elves dressed in brightly colored clothing along with a kind looking old woman, who quickly rushed over to the side of the sleigh. Susan got out just as the old woman got close and the two hugged. "Welcome back sweet heart, how was the trip this year?" The old woman said as she embraced Susan, making Will realize it must be Susan's mother. Will quietly sat in the sleigh, trying not to pay much attention to the staring of the elves who were looking right at her.

"It was fine mom. Found something interesting this years though…Or should I say someone." Susan responded and broke away from her mother and gestured to the slay. This drew Mrs. Clause's attention to Will who shifted shyly under the attention of the old woman.

"Oh we have a guest! What happened that needed my daughter to unfreeze you sweetie? I hope you're alight." Mrs. Clause asked in a concerned tone. Mrs. Clause knew both she and her husband taught Susan to never bring a person out of the time freeze unless it was really important.

"She wasn't frozen to begin with mom." Susan explained which made the older Clause gasp and quickly (but gently) took Will's hand and gently pulled her out of the sleigh, then wrapped her arms around the young girl in a protective and comforting manner. Mrs. Clause knew full well it was rare for something like this to happen and it was even rarer that the person was not suffering in someway.

"Lets get you inside my dear and washed up. Even with my daughter's magic hiding it, I can tell you could use a good bath and some clean clothes." Mrs. Clause said before snapping her finger and making Will's clothes change back to normal. Will felt very uncomfortable being scene by so many in the old, worn and dirty garments, since many looked at her in disgust when looking at them.

But much to Will's surprise, no one seemed pay much mind. The elves just kept their curious expressions on their face, with the exception of few that gave her looks of sympathy. The two Clauses kept their kind smiles and gently led Will into the main section of the house.

They headed straight for the bathroom, stopping at the door just long enough for Mrs. Clause to say something to her daughter. "You go to the other bathroom and get washed up for dinner to Susan. I'll take care of…" Mrs. Clause started say but trailed off and waited for one of the two to provide a name.

Before Will could speak and stop what she knew was to come, Susan said, "Her name is Wilhelmina, mom." This caused Will groan in annoyance, but Mrs. Clause paid it no mind as she said, "A lovely name for a lovely girl." Mrs. Clause then guided Will into the bathroom, who was shooting death glares as Susan, which the dark haired woman smiled at Will's predicament.

Susan just gave Will a small apologetic smile as she watched the redhead get led away by the older Clause. 'Sorry Will, but I knew mom was going to insist on knowing your full name and not the shortened version. Don't worry; she'll eventually call you Will after she gets to know you better.' Susan thought as she headed off to take a bath as well.

---

Meanwhile, Mrs. Clause was gently slipping off the layers of clothing Will had on. Will, for obvious reasons, was a little uncomfortable with this so it took a while to coax Will to undress. Once in the tub, Mrs. Clause scrubbed Will until every spec of dirt and grime was gone.

It took an hour to finish the process, but once done, Mrs. Clause was pleased with the results. "There we go my dear. You get dried off while I go get you something to wear and deal with...What ever these things should be called." Mrs. Clause said as she picked Will old clothes.

"But...Won't I need those when I leave?" Will asked, getting a very good idea from what Mrs. Claus said and how she was looking at her clothes, meant she was throwing them out. Mrs. Clause just shook her head at this and replied, "No child should have to wear such rags. Don't worry, I'll go dig up some clothes you can keep. I hope you don't mind hand-me-downs though, because I think some of Susan's old clothes should fit you and they are the only thing I can think of at the moment."

"Y-You really don't need to go to all that trouble for me..." Will said in stutter, not wanting to be a bother to the old woman. But Mrs. Clause wouldn't hear of it and shook her head in response. "You're not being any trouble Wilhelmina, now get dried off as I asked. I'll be back in a few minutes." The old woman said, ignoring the glare from Will at being called by her full name again.

As the door closed again, Will climb out of the tub and reached for the near by towel. It felt good to be clean again and have a hot bath after so long. She could not even remember the last time had had one. 'I did not even remember my hair being this shade of red.' Will thought as she looked into the mirror.

Just as Will finished up, Mrs. Clause came back in with a red sweater with a white snowflake on the front and green sleeves, a pair of brown trousers and shoes. "Here you go my dear. Get changed quick, my husband is only a few minutes away and I'm sure he'll want to meet you." Mrs. Clause said with a kind smile. Will on the other hand looked very nervous at the idea meeting Santa Clause, but Mrs. Clause managed to get the redhead dressed and ready for the encounter with old Saint Nick.

---

Will and Mrs. Clause arrived just in time to see Santa land. Will was still feeling a bit nervous, but that's when she felt someone take her hand and made Will look to see who it was. Will was surprised to see it was Susan, who Will did not recognize right away since she was now wearing a brown sweater and black pants instead of her Santa suit.

"Don't worry; dad loves children so you got nothing to be nervous about." Susan assured Will with a gentle smile. It helped Will settle down but not by much, she had always been uncomfortable meeting new people because you never knew what they were like until it was too late.

As Santa's slay landed, the large jolly man got out and looked around stable and laid his sight upon Will. Will clutched Susan's hand tighter as Santa approached, but then felt Susan hand somehow slip free. Before Will could grab it again a pair of arms scooped her up, causing Will to yelp in surprise. "Ah, little Will, its been years since I last paid you a visit. I thought I sensed someone moving around when they should have been frozen in place, glad Susan found you because I bet you would have been very frightened after you realized time had stopped." Santa said to the trembling girl he had in his arms.

Santa knew all about Will's situation, he was Santa after all. He wished he could have helped four years ago, but he had strict rules he had to follow. Because of Tony's grief at the loss of his wife, he unfairly blamed Will for Serena's death and took away much the young girl's childhood, including her belief in Santa.

Once there are no believers in a household, Santa could not go inside that home. This meant he could do nothing to help, not that he could do much in such situations. 'But I could have at least tried.' Santa thought sadly as he held Will in his arms and hoped gentle contact would help relieve the girl's fears.

Slowly Will stopped shaking and looked into Santa's eyes, seeing only the kindness that both Susan and Mrs. Clause had shown her since she met them. Once Will was fully relaxed, Santa put Will down and said, "Well I don't know about any of you, but I'm hungry. Let's go eat before my wife's hard work gets cold! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

"Dad, when are you ever not hungry!" Susan stated as she placed her hands on her hips, making Will giggle at this sight while Mrs. Clause laughed. The group headed back into the main area of the household, the dining room to be precise, where the massive holiday feast would be held.

---

The large dinning room was filled with elves, reindeer and the Clause family. The smell of roast turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and other such things filled the room and made Will's mouth water.

The dining room had a layout similar to a school cafeteria with several long tables lined up in the room. At the head of one of the tables sat Santa and on either side of him were Mrs. Clause and Susan. Beside Susan was Will of course, who was eagerly awaiting the start of the meal.

Once everyone sat down, Santa gave a small speech to thank everyone for once again helping him succeed giving presents to all the children of the world. The part Will really did not like was when Santa said, "…and I think we should also thank our guest Wilhelmina 'Will' Vandom for helping my daughter with her share of the deliveries this year. Let us all give round of applause for volunteering herself tonight." Will's face went bright red as everyone clapped, she did not like being the center of attention.

After the applause ended, the feast began. Will had her plate loaded with everything she was able to get her hands on. She started off with getting lots of turkey, ham, carrots, green beans, and mashed potatoes with gravy, but later got other things like cabbage roles and porgies or roast beef. It seems Mrs. Clause and the elves that helped her made a wide assortment of food, which Will was really enjoying. She had not had such great meal in such a long time.

After the dinner was finished being served, the tables magically disappeared and everyone either gathered interments or stood in the middle of the room, much to Will confusion until the music started.

Everyone began to dance and sing, all having a good time. Will was a bit unsure of what to do until Susan gently led her off to the side and handed Will a tambourine. "One rule at this party, either you dance or you play an instrument. Since you look a little stuffed, better to bang on that and give yourself time to digest that meal you had." Susan explained before picking up a flute and started playing.

Will smiled and nodded her head as she tried to match the rhythm of the music as she played along. Will saw that there was no set way you had to dance, it was mostly a make it up as you go along instead of following a set pattern. This made Will feel a bit more at ease when she finally went out on the dance floor, where she moved along with the music as best she could.

After hours of having the most fun she had ever had in her life, Will was now asleep with her head resting on Susan's lap. After the party was over, the Clause's led Will to their family room so to have some quite time together before going to bed. Will was feeling very tired and immediately placed her head where it was now, much to Susan's surprise.

"She had grown very attached to you Susan and you to her. Have you thought about what you're going to do with her? I know you're not planning on sending her back to the life she lives, so what do you have in mind?" Santa asked his daughter, who was running her fingers through Will's short red hair.

"I don't know. If I could I would take her in myself but…" Susan started to say, but her mother cut in. "Then why don't you? It's no different than what your father and I did for you two hundred years ago. So if you want, go ahead and ask her when she wakes up. All children deserve to have a family, especially at Christmas."

Susan looked up at her parents with a hopeful look on her face and asked, "You mean…I can? I thought you told me the Christmas spirits said you could only have one child?" This got the dark haired woman a warm smile from both her parents as Santa replied, "Yes they said WE can only choose one child, but they never said you couldn't choose one for yourself. I know you have a desire to be mother, Susan. The spirit probably knew this as well and that was probably why she was not frozen tonight. They were offering the both of you a chance to have what you two want."

Susan was truly shocked by this. Not once did she consider that the Christmas spirits might have had a hand in all this, but it did make sense. Will longed for a mother and a happy family and Susan wanted a child. This gave both of them what they wanted.

"Guess this means I'll have to ask her in the morning. I just hope she'll say yes." Susan said as she went back to looking down at Will with a loving expression on her face.

---

That night, Will had a rare dream of her mother. Will was six years old in this dream and was held in mother's arms, while she flew through the sky on her angelic white wings. "Mommy stay forever and ever this time." The small voice of the redhead asked in a childish voice, not wanting this to be dream like the other times.

"I'm sorry sweet heart but this is the last time you'll see me. You need a mother who can be there for you all the time and I can't do that, but there is someone out there who wants to care for you so please let her." Serena said with tears in her eyes and gave Will a small kiss on forehead. She then let go of Will and let the redhead plummet downward.

"Mommy!" Will screamed out as she fell, then woke up.

---

"No!" Will called out as she sat up right and found herself in a strange room, lying in a small soft bed and dressed in a light pink nightgown. Will realized the design was much like the Clause family's home, making her think she must have fallen asleep and they put her in here for the night.

While Will was trying to figure out what to do next when the door to the room burst open. "Will, are you alright?" Susan asked with a worried look in her face as she rushed over and wrapped her arms around Will protectively.

Will was trying to figure out why the arms felt bigger then they normally did, but did not give it much thought as she replied, "Just a bad dream…nothing…to…worry…about." Will started speaking more slowly as she realized her voice sounded different.

Susan let go and looked Will in the eyes with a big grin on her face as she said, "I think you need to see something sweetie." With that she scooped Will up in her arms and carried her over to a small vanity mirror in the corner and listened to Will gasp at what she saw.

Will saw she was no longer ten years old, instead she looked six like in the dream she was just having. "How…Did this happen?" Will asked looking at the mirror in shock. She reached to her face and gave her cheek a pinch to find out she was not still dreaming.

Susan smiled at this but said nothing; she carried Will out of the room. "Where are we going?" Will asked as she wrapped her arms around Susan's neck and snuggle the woman's chest a bit for some reason, not knowing her body was not the only thing that was changing.

"You'll see sweetie." Susan replied and headed down the stairs and back into the family room where Santa and Mrs. Clause were waiting. "Ah, there the guest of honor is! I thought you would be down here before any of us!" Santa said in a joking tone, much to Will's confusion.

"Why me be down here first?" Will asked, not realizing her way of speaking had changed a bit. The magic that changed her back into a six year old was slowly reducing her mentality to the same age. One of the perks to being adopted by the Clause family was the chance to relive child hood again, since like Susan, Will's life had unfairly taken a good portion of that away.

Susan had been found the same way Will had been, the only difference was that Susan was thirteen when Santa found her wondering around during the time freeze. Also like Will, Susan woke up the next day in a six year old body and slowly her mind changed back to that age as well. Susan did not loose her memories of those days, they were just suppressed just enough so they did not ruin the second chance of childhood. When Susan got older, they were no longer suppressed but by that point Susan did not care; she had a new family and life now.

'I just hope Will will take the chance to have the same experience.' Susan thought as she put Will down in front of the Christmas tree, which had lots of presents around it. "Your grandpa means he thought you would want to rush down here and open all your presents." Susan explained, getting a shocked Will looking up at her.

"Grandpa? Presents?" the newly turned six year old asked, the part of her that could still think like a ten year old hoping that what woman hinted at was true. Susan knelt down in front of Will and said, "Will, I have a question for you. Do you want a new mommy? Because if you do I would gladly…oof!" Susan started to ask, but was knocked down over by Will who was yelling out, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Susan looked up at the tiny girl who was on top of her chest and smiled as tears came poring down her face. "Alright then, you go grab a present and come and sit with mommy on the couch, okay?" Susan asked her daughter who eagerly got up and grabbed one of the brightly wrapped boxes.

As Will unwrapped it, she found a teddy bear inside, which she instantly wrapped her arms around in a tight hug. While Will snuggled her new toy, Susan looked over to her parents and asked, "Was it this much fun to watch me do the same things as she is doing?"

"Oh it gets better my dear, though I wish the gift of immortality was not going to save you from getting gray hair like I'm sure you would have given me, if I did not already have it when you arrived!" Mrs. Clause teased while her daughter glared at her.

'Things are going to be lively around here now Will is here to stay. I better tell the staff to keep an eye out for Will during toy production next year. Susan was such a terror at that age.' Santa thought with an amused smile on his face as he watched his new granddaughter enjoy her first Christmas with her new family.


End file.
